News
Sign up for the FIS newsletter and get weekly updates to your inbox
Withdrawal of the Construction Related Occupation (CRO) Card
From 31 March 2017, the CRO card issued by Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) will cease. All CRO cards issued after October 2015 will expire on 30 September 2017 whereas cards issued before October 2015 will remain valid until their expiry date....
Phase Two Launch of CourseSight
FIS Skills has announced that on Monday 13 February, phase two of CourseSight will go live, enabling every part of the construction sector to benefit from its functionality. The phase two version also includes electronic VQ grant fund claims for CITB-registered...
Training and skills funding available for SMEs
£3 million of CITB Training and Skills funding available for SMEs with less than 100 employees! With up to £10,000 available per company, are you getting your share? Is your business development stifled due to a lack of skills? Are you putting off those important...
Winners announced at President’s Lunch
On Tuesday 7 February 2017, FIS held the President’s Lunch at Plaisterers’ Hall in London. Over 300 members and guests attended the lunch where the winners of the President’s Awards were announced, along with the plastering categories of the Contractors Awards....
Tax reporting is going digital
The Joint Taxation Committee has confirmed that digital reporting of tax will be implemented in 2018. Last week, on 31 January, HMRC announced that most businesses, self-employed people and landlords will start to keep track of their tax affairs digitally and update...
Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI: January
A summary of the data revealed that the construction sector lost momentum in January. Other key findings were: Weakest activity growth since the recovery began in September 2016; Job creation hits eight-month peak; Strongest input cost inflation since August 2008.
SmartCard Audit
Build UK and CECA will be carrying out an audit of industry skills cards across construction sites on Wednesday 8 February 2017. The requirement for all skills cards to carry the CSCS logo and be 'smart' was set by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC). This...
Duty to Report on Payment Practices and Performance
From April 2017, large businesses and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) will have to publish details twice-yearly on the average time taken to pay supplier invoices. As part of business enterprise and corporate governance, government has set out measures to...
CITB plans to slash levy
The CITB board has approved plans to cut the levy it charges qualifying construction firms by almost a third. This would see the current charge of 0.5 per cent drop to 0.35 per cent from 2018. Between August and September this year, the CITB will be required to...